Grand Theft Auto VI is truly within touching distance, with Rockstar Games now having confirmed precisely when players can expect to jump into the highly anticipated title.
Surprisingly, GTA VI is opting for a traditional phased rollout, going live at midnight on November 19 in each respective region. As has always been the case, that means those in New Zealand will unlock the game first, but here’s the order you can expect come launch day. All timings are provided in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), with all timings converting to midnight in local time zones.
GTA 6 Global Unlock Times Confirmed
- November 18, 11am UTC — New Zealand
- November 18, 1pm UTC — Australia
- November 18, 3pm UTC — Japan, South Korea
- November 18, 4pm UTC — Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore
- November 18, 5pm UTC — Thailand, Indonesia
- November 18, 6:30pm UTC — India
- November 18, 8pm UTC — UAE
- November 18, 9pm UTC — Saudi Arabia, Turkey
- November 18, 10pm UTC — Finland, Romania, South Africa, Ukraine, Greece
- November 18, 11pm UTC — Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Norway, Switzerland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Sweden, Netherlands
- November 19, 12am UTC — UK, Ireland, Portugal
- November 19, 3am UTC — Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay
- November 19, 4am UTC — Bolivia
- November 19, 5am UTC — USA, Canada, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador
- November 19, 6am UTC — Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua
As you can see, those within North and South America are among some of the last to go hands-on with GTA VI. In the US, for example, gamers will unlock the game approximately 18 hours after those in New Zealand.
How to Play GTA 6 Early on Xbox
If you simply can’t handle that wait, there are ways to go about getting hands-on earlier, with it proving to be much easier on Xbox than it is on PlayStation.
To play GTA VI earlier than your region’s unlock time, you’ll need to dupe your Xbox into thinking you’re based in New Zealand. Head to your console’s settings, navigate to ‘Profile & System’ and ‘Settings’. There, select ‘System’ and ‘Language & Location’. Choose New Zealand under location and then restart your console. This method doesn’t require a VPN or anything complicated, so it’s probably something most Xbox users will try.
How to Play GTA 6 Early on PlayStation
Playing GTA VI early on a PS5 console isn’t quite so straightforward. You’ll have to create a whole new PlayStation Network account, selecting New Zealand as the account’s region. You can then sign in on your PS5 using that account. Of course, the new account won’t have any games, so you’ll need to head to the PlayStation Store to purchase GTA VI in the local currency. You can then play it at the New Zealand unlock time from that account or you can make the game playable on your regular account.
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To do that, head to ‘Settings’ on the New Zealand account, followed by ‘Users and Accounts’ and ‘Other’. Click ‘Console Sharing and Offline Play’ and choose ‘Enable’. If you switch to your usual account, you should find the New Zealand-purchased version of the game works at an earlier time.
We don’t exactly recommend this, though, as it’s all a bit long-winded — especially as purchasing the game requires New Zealand Dollars. You’ve waited this long. You can’t wait a few more hours.
Grand Theft Auto VI launches on November 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.